In advance of Rosh Hashanah, or the Jewish New Year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu provided a message of hope despite the threats his country faces such as Iran.
“We live in a challenging area, and we are equal to the task. We hit our enemies when necessary, and we are capable of hitting them even more,” Netanyahu told the personnel who work under him in a toast, according to a spokesperson for the prime minister. “We are defending our borders, and we are also dealing with threats while they are far away and have yet to reach us, with foresight, pre-emptively.
“But I must tell you that while we are doing this, we are acquiring friends around the world and within the region here,” he continued. “They see our strength, and they see our commitment to defend our state—to develop it, and become an economic, technological, military and intelligence power, and this brings us friends.”
“Who but you, the employees of the Prime Minister’s Office, knows this?” he asked rhetorically. “This tent is like a railway station; leaders from around the world arrive every day, sometimes several times a day, hundreds of leaders.”
Rosh Hashanah starts at sundown on Sunday, Sept. 9, and ends at nightfall on Tuesday, Sept. 11.
